Page 118 of Love in a Mist
Jean-François
“I wish he treated you with the kindness and respect that you deserve,” Aldric said. “And I wish I had the ability to enforce a bit of that as you have for me with Crofton.”
Céleste refolded the letter and slipped it into the pocket among her skirts. She leaned against Aldric once more. “France is changing very quickly. He is losing what little power he had, and I suspect that scares him. Blaming me for his losses is familiar.”
Aldric kissed her temple. “But unfair.”
She closed her eyes and let herself cherish his nearness. “They are not leaving Paris, and he did not demand Adèle be returned to him. At least for now, she can remain with us.”
“Us.” The smile in his voice was apparent. “I am growing increasingly fond of that word.”
“As am I.”
He slipped back, but only a little. She looked at him once more and found him looking back. He took her hands in his.
“I have been searching for a home that my mother’s necklace can purchase while still leaving me a bit of income. I had intended to wait until I had a home to offer you, but...” He took a breath. “I want to build a lifewith you,mon ange. I want ‘us’ to be a permanent part of our vocabulary. And I don’t want to keep waiting for that.”
He lifted one hand to his lips and kissed it. She held fast to him.
“I feel as though I’ve spent my life wandering in fog, convinced there was no way into the light. But then you found me there. We found each other. We found love.”
She smiled, knowing perfectly well her heart was in her eyes. “We found love in a mist.”
Aldric pulled her into his arms once more. “Will you marry me, my darling Céleste? Build a life with me?”
“More than just a life,” she said. “A family. One filled with love.”
December
Mother’s necklace had fetched enough to secure Aldric a lovely little estate in western Shropshire, with a home farm and a bit of land. It would never make him wealthy, but it was his. His and Céleste’s.
At the moment, however, they were leaving behind Shropshire and making their way to join the Gents for a Christmastime gathering at Digby’s home in Yorkshire. They were journeying by way of Cheshire to fetch Roderick. He would be spending Christmas with them, as Crofton had agreed, thanks to Céleste’s efforts.
Adèle was still living with them. France was in continued upheaval, but no further word had arrived from Jean-François and Marguerite, not even a hint that they wished for their daughter to return. Aldric spent many a night holding his new wife as she worried over the fate of her homeland and her countrymen. And he’d held Adèle as he’d read her stories and as they’d explored their new home, looking for flowers.
On this, the second day of their Christmastime journey, his ladies were both sleeping, one on either side of him, leaning against him with such trust and ease. He’d grown up in a home and family that rightly viewed their husband or father with fear. Never having a family of his own had, for most of his life, seemed his only chance of not repeating that mistake.
But Stanley had taught him what a family was meant to be. And Stanley would be both happy for him and proud of him.
“I like seeing you smile.” Céleste’s sleepy whisper pulled his gaze to her. She was looking up at him with a smile of her own. “I assume you are thinking about my Christmas present and how much I will love it.”
“Youaregoing to love it.” He had found her violin and was anticipating with absolute joy her delight when she received it. “But I was thinking about Stanley and how much he would have loved you.”
She adjusted her position so she sat more comfortably tucked under his arm. “Stanley is the reason you met Henri. And Henri is the reason I met you. So I suspect I would have loved Stanley as well. He has brought us all so much happiness.”
He had. “This Gents’ gathering will be the largest so far. The family he created keeps growing.”
“Including Adèle and Roderick,” Céleste said. “And all of Lucas and Julia’s children—I, for one, cannot wait to meet their little twin boys. Kes and Violet’s impending arrival will soon add to the number. And, hopefully sometime soon, Digby will find his match.”
Aldric pulled her ever closer. He kissed her temple. “Have I told you often enough how grateful I am that we found our way to each other?”
“You have, but I won’t object to hearing it again.”
He carefully moved his other arm out from around Adèle and tucked his hand under Céleste’s chin, tipping it the tiniest bit upward so they were looking into each other’s eyes, a breath apart. “I love you, Céleste. Fate has not always been kind to either of us, but I am convinced that destiny herself brought us together. That you gave me the chance to prove myself worthy of building a life with you is the greatest gift I could ever imagine.”
“And we are going to build abeautifullife,” she whispered.
Aldric kissed her softly and slowly, holding her to him and thanking the heavens for the twisting path that had brought him here, for a friend who had given him a family, and a remarkable woman who was teaching him how to love. Theirs was, indeed, going to be an exceptionally beautiful life together.
